Tech Report: Quantum Cryptography

Cryptography underpins much of the infrastructure that every digital system in the world - including countries in Latin America and the Caribbean - depends on today: bank transfers, government communications, electronic health records, and global supply chains, among others. Each of these processes rely on public-key encryption schemes that have protected digital trust for more than four decades. That balance is about to be challenged; the advance of quantum computing threatens to render those same schemes vulnerable, according to available estimates, that scenario could materialize within five to twenty years. This report presents quantum cryptography, which uses principles of physics such as superposition, entanglement, and the no-cloning theorem to protect information and detect any interception attempt through protocols such as quantum key distribution (QKD). It also introduces the notion of post-quantum cryptography as the roadmap to follow.